Deep down in the summer reading pile is a biography, "Red Carpet Ready," from Melissa Rivers, celebrity interviewer and daughter of comedian Joan Rivers, writing with Tim Vandehey.
While Rivers has seen the rise and fall of many a Hollywood celebrity, "Red Carpet Ready" is basically a self-help book aimed at those who may never walk the Oscar red carpet but do have to have the confidence to march across a platform to get a graduation certificate.
"All of us have Red Carpet Moments throughout our lives. They're weddings, bat mitzvahs, and interviews for dream jobs. They're also breakups and painful apologies. A Red Carpet Moment is any time when the spotlight is on you, for better or worse."
Rivers proceeds, in a breezy fashion laden with celebrity tidbits, to lay out rules that would help any girl deal with any kind of situation. She aims straight at the period when your formerly confident daughter has turned into a self-doubting teen.
Her basic lesson is prepare, prepare, prepare. The "one thing I've learned from my own experience it's that most of life's Red Carpet Moments don't come about by accident. ...You're going to be able to prepare for your time in the spotlight."
The Nine Red Carpet Life Lessons start with the "shallow end" _ makeup, hair, "making sure you don't have a 'nipple slip' on a first date," or any date. "It's very politically correct to claim that we care only about character and the inner self, to work on personal growth without worrying about how our eyebrows look. Nonsense. Every woman cares about looking great when she's having a Red Carpet Moment. Appearance matters."
Then there is the "deep end" about "living with gratitude and awareness and honesty, seeing that failure isn't the end of the world," and more.
Finally, "Red Carpet Moments are about risk. When you stage your wedding, walk into a conference room to interview for a job, or step onto a stage with your band, you're putting yourself in the spotlight and also risking failure ... Life is full of times you have to suck it up and do what has to be done even though you're furious, embarrassed, or brokenhearted."
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"Red Carpet Ready" by Melissa Rivers with Tim Vandehey; Harmony Books, New York (277 pages, $22.99)